Franklin played college basketball for San Diego State, where he was the Mountain West Conference Player of the Year as well as an All-American in his junior season.

As a senior at Serrano, he led the state of California in scoring at 31.7 points per game and was a two-time All-California Interscholastic Federation selection.

[4] Franklin was rated as the 24th-best shooting guard in the class of 2009 coming out of Serrano High School and had an ESPN.com grade of 90.

As a freshman, he was part of arguably the best season in school history, along with teammates Kawhi Leonard and Malcolm Thomas, as the Aztecs went 34–3 and captured a #2 seed in the 2011 NCAA Tournament.

He responded by averaging 17.4 points and 7.9 rebounds per game and leading the Aztecs to an unexpected shared regular-season title and a #6 seed in the 2012 NCAA Tournament.

Franklin was named Mountain West player of the year[5] and was recognized nationally as an All-American by the Associated Press.

[6] Franklin resisted the lure of the professional ranks and returned to San Diego State in 2012–13 for his junior season.

[10] During his rookie season, he had multiple assignments with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA Development League.

[13] On October 7, 2014, Franklin signed a two-month contract with the Zhejiang Lions of the Chinese Basketball Association.

[22] He made his debut for the team later that day, recording one rebound and one assist in a 122–111 win over the Sacramento Kings.

[24] On August 29, 2015, Franklin signed with the Guangdong Southern Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association,[25] but left the team before appearing in a game for them.

[29] On April 5, 2016, Franklin signed with Brujos de Guayama of the Puerto Rican Baloncesto Superior Nacional.